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Lusting over an electric long board seemed to become too much and not having £2000 I decided to create my own DIY version for much less. Although this was a budget version compared to the top dogs Boosted boards, I didn't want to compromise on performance. Before I order the parts I mocked out the design in Autodesk Inventor using the intended parts mainly from eBay. Inventor was a great way to visualize and adjust the tight tolerances between the long boards trucks and the battery box.
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This was also an 3D printing exercise for me because before this I only printed a few models and I really wanted to understand the full capabilities of the printer. Initially I was intending a wooden battery box which would be able to withstand the force of rolling over pavement curbs with I often do in my normal long board. Quickly I realized I couldn't just attach wood to an existing board, I would have to create my own bespoke board which I wasn't willing to do with the tools I had at hand. So I opted to attach a metal tray to the board with silicone, which would mold to the contours of the board and be strong enough to hold all the electronics, then I would be able to attach a 3D printed box to this bracket.
When designing the new battery box I wanted to be able to access the batteries without having to unscrew anything. This meant creating a hinged door with a quick release latch. Along with this latch I added a space for a battery indicator and a battery kill switch. Although my printer has a large print area I was creating this near winter so printing on that scale causes lots of issues unless the printer was sealed. So I sliced the base into three sections and added locating pins to give the glue the best surface area.
This design was always intended to be a functioning prototype and once all the fundamentals were completed I would create a more pleasing design aesthetic. For this version I didn't make the box water resistant since the board controller was used from an RC car and was already water tight meaning I would only have to be concerned about the batteries.
This is the functioning prototype. Its not pretty but it could go 8km at 16mph with an incline rating of around 30 degrees. Compared to the boosted boards similar specs, this board cost just over £200 with the board included which is about a fifth of the price of the similar spec boosted board. Yet with my design I can buy more batteries and carry them with me in my backpack and depending on how many I bring my range is limitless. This is a design point I will be using in all my future electric long boards. I used a pair of 3s 11v batteries in series to get a combined 6s 22v package. This was actually under volting the motor so with a battery upgrade the top speed of the board would be increased.
Above are all the parts I created in Inventor to then be printed. The box was designed to carry all the various tools I use when out an about on the board. it consisted of my skate tool, spare bolts, superglue and varying sized Allen keys . Mainly i Created varying specs of wheel pulleys. I initially created one for the motor but since its torque is high it destroyed the plastic version, so I opted for a metal version. Thankfully you can use 3D printed parts for the wheel since the pulley has a larger radius to grab onto. By increasing or decreasing the wheel pulley, it will increase top speed or torque(acceleration) so I opted for a happy medium. Finally I created a slimmer remote casing, an ECU mount and battery mounts. I experimented with plastic motor mounts but due to the torque of he motor this wasn't feasible.
I learned so much from this project. Although it was intended to save money I wanted to create my own design and see the exact steps it would take to get a working prototype. Loads of research before this really helped the initial stage but i definitely had to adapt and see what parts worked for my use. I created the first prototype with the lowest budget in mind meaning most parts came from overseas however, this reduced price also resulted in reduced performance. I ended up breaking 3 motors in the process. The first was just too weak a motor and burned out, the second was poorly built and although it still functioned it was resonating a loud grinding noise. I inspected the motor and discovered a third of the magnets were cracked meaning if re-assembled the torque would be reduced. So for the final motor I decided to spend a bit more and have a sealed unit which although smaller than the second motor it produced the same torque. For v2 I used an IKEA cutlery tray for the box because although my 3D printed version was a better design it was weak and broke after a few trips. So for v3 ill utilize the strong IKEA tray with a quickly way to access the batteries. V4 will be a fully bespoke board utilizing integrated electronics to make it safe to conquer curbs and be completely water resistant.